To move downward quickly, often without control, usually because of gravity; or to drop in amount, level, or strength.
From Old English “feallan” meaning “to fall, fail, die,” from Proto‑Germanic “fallaną.” It has long been used for both physical dropping and figurative decline.
“Fall” is so old that it once covered everything from literally dropping to metaphorically dying. That’s why we still talk about “the fall of an empire” or “falling in battle”—language remembers the drop from high to low.
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